That was a chore to watch. But we're into the KO stages. Would like to see Nelson, Nketiah and Maitland Niles given some game time alongside Sanchez, Lacazette, Ozil, Ramsey etc.
And it's highly unlikely we won't also top the group. I'm happy the youth are getting experience and our fringe players are getting a decent amount of game time which should keep them fairly match fit in case they need to step in for injured players in the league. Plus it's a good rest for our first string who would be playing if it was the CL. Dull game though.
The time wasting from Red Star was also so boring. Falling on the floor all the time, staying down for ages etc.... I get that they were playing for the draw and are hoping to get second in the group but it makes for such a stop start irritating game of football.
FT. 0-0. We are through to the Round of 32, but comparing our performance today with the likes of Spurs & City yesterday is frightening. I know we had a second string side out, however, the quality of football on show was just diabolical. Judging by how we've performed overall this season, I don't think our football would have been significantly better even if we had fielded our strongest XI. We had a lot of promising moments around their penalty area, but our final ball was lacking. Too many hesitations. Too many poor decisions. Wilshere, as per usual, played well and was our impetus going forward. Reiss-Nelson's acceleration and intelligent runs suggests to me he has a bright future ahead of him. Eddie, when he came, did quite well. The defence was okay. Everyone else was garbage. Both Giroud and Walcott did bugger all. Coquelin is not a box-to-box midfielder and it showed. It was pointless starting him in a match where the opposing team was planning to sit deep and hit us on the break. I don't want to be too overly critical though as, yet again, Wenger is not playing half of these players in their preferred positions, so their effectiveness is hindered. I got a bit annoyed with the referee because he made a bunch of terrible decisions and let them get away with a lot of fouls. Their players also seem to fall to ground at the slightest touch, which aggravated me. However, these aren't the reasons why we didn't win. We were lacking in quality. Overall, a hugely disappointing performance.
I'm not usually one to criticise referees or opposition players for their conduct, by my God, what a bunch of pathetic fairies. They clearly came with the mentality of not losing because their lack of ambition during this match was evident. What pissed me off more was that the referee kept falling for their theatrics every time, yet whenever one of our players were legitimately fouled, he wouldn't give it. Absolute ****er.
As Willock, Nelson, Maitland-Niles and Nketiah take solid steps forward, so Walcott takes massive strides backwards.
Reassuring to see Jack riding through a number of very solid (c*ntish) "tackles" with no obvious problems. Other than that a right turd of a game to watch but as others have stated we're through without risking the starting 11 and giving valuable game time to the back up players and yoooofs.
No surprise there is no BATE thread. A rare start for Cahmbers! Wenger has started Elneny, Monreal, Kolasinac and Debuchy at CB ahead of Chambers in recent weeks.
